When I last talked specifically about Magic: the Gathering I mentioned the latest edition. I should make special mention of Scars of Mirrodin. I’ve always been a fan of artifacts, and now with the return of this plane to prominence and the prospect of recruiting a planeswalker whose entire shtick is artifice and I’m on board.

One of the new mechanics the expansion brings is metalcraft, a condition that requires a player to have three or more artifacts in play. I’ve begun working on two decks using this mechanic, one because it’s my usual idiom and the other because the creatures involved really tickle my fancy.

Metalcrafted Control

I’ve been back and forth about including white in this deck. Mostly it’s blue, with Vedalken Certarchs rendering threats moot and Stoic Rebuttals countering spells. Etched Champions make for great defenders, but I have little in terms of outright attackers save for my Steel Hellkite. I do have a pair of Auriok Edgewrights who would benefit from the equipment sought by the Trinket Mages when they’re not grabbing my Mox Opal or one of my many Memnites. And I feel a little silly putting the Opal in a mono-colored deck, but maybe that’s just me.

I think I could make it work, and should I ever managed to recruit Venser, he’d fit right into the scheme.

Metalcrafted Myrs

Okay, maybe this is just me (again), but I happen to think the Myr creatures are pretty cute. Scars of Mirrodin has an excellent starter for making a Myr deck, one I plan on acquiring, and I already have a pair of Myrsmith cards that will make me produce the little suckers like crazy. Combined with a little metalcrafted red in the form of Embersmiths and Galvanic Blasts to deal with threats, the Myr Battlesphere shouldn’t take long to roll its way to victory. It may take some time to acquire some of the cards that I’d love to put in this deck, like Indomitable Archangel or Kuldotha Phoenix, but I’m refraining from buying individual cards over the Internet. It’s simply not in my budget.

Archenemy

This casual variant is a lot of fun. The scheme cards not only provide a great opportunity to use your best evil mastermind voice, they present the other players with unique challenges every turn and make them work for their victory. It’s really nice to see Magic promoting a form of cooperative play. There’s no backstabbing in Archenemy, partially because every spell counts and partially because there’s simply no time.

Using the Scorch the World with Dragonfire deck as a jumping-off point, I may end up pulling some cards from other decks to make this threat a red-black one instead of red-green. While red-green is a color combination more commonly associated with dragons than red-black, some of the tools available will make for very nasty surprises, not to mention some of the tasty things available in another Archenemy deck, Bring About The Undead Apocalypse.

Other Decks

I’m still working on my idea for a Commander (formerly known as ‘Elder Dragon Highlander’) deck, and my old decks aren’t really going anywhere. Especially not Chronomancy. But the Sliver deck and the others are somewhat semi-retired at this point, or will be once I get the Myr of Mirrodin starter. I’d like to take a crack at some standard constructed play, after all. It can be a lot of fun to compete in these things, and Cyborg One in Doylestown has a great atmosphere I wish to further explore.

It seems my planeswalking has only just begun.

Art by Kaja Foglio

Remember how I mentioned that I’m playing Magic: the Gathering again? I’m not the only one. My niece has taken up the hobby, both of her parents play and my friends in Chesterbrook are trying to nail down a date in December for a Magic night.

I’ve blown the dust off of my decks and started a couple others. Here’s the state of things in this planeswalker’s arsenal.

Reanimator: After some trial and error, I’ve narrowed this deck down to two primary colors, green and black. There are a couple cards that let me add the white necessary if I need to hardcast Teneb, the Harvester. However, a few of the defenders, such as Twisted Abomination or Penumbra Spider get some help in the form of Lure and Gaze of the Gorgon. The core of the deck remains the same: by destruction in combat or discarding, my creatures sent to the graveyard don’t stay there long thanks to Dread Return.

Sliver Legion: People hate this deck. It’s pretty much remained unchanged since I put it together.

Chronomancy: Slightly less hated than the Sliver Legion, Jhoria and I still make a good team. I pared down the “big guns” to a single Akroma, Angel of Fury and a pair of Lightning Angels to ensure I had enough counters and ‘answers’ to enemy threats. It may still need a tweak or two, but it’s performed well.

Grinder (working title): At the core of this deck are four Millstones. Around this are built a variety of counters, including Induce Paranoia and anti-creature answers such as Assassinate and Doom Blade. It’s creatureless, nasty and a HUGE target.

Creature Feature: Still in the concept stages. The more I consider the best way to make use of Magus of the Future, Momir Vig, Simic Visionary and Vorosh, the Hunter, the more I consider Vedalken Aethermages and Plaxcaster Frogling essential parts of it. The Aethermages are pretty self-explanatory, letting me tutor my deck for two of the three essential trio. The Frogling can protect the other creatures in play, provided I have enough mana, but I’d also need more +1/+1 counters to spread around. I think most of them will come from the same block as Momir, such as the Simic Initiate and the Sporeback Troll. More on this deck as it develops.

This is of course without diving into the latest edition of Magic, including its preconstructed decks and Planeswalkers. We’ll have to see what the holiday holds…